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This Is America, Charlie Brown
This Is America, Charlie Brown is an eight-part animated television miniseries, depicting events in American history with characters from the Charles M. Schulz comic strip Peanuts. It aired from 1988 to 1989 on CBS. These eight episodes, originally released singly on videocassette, were released in a two-DVD collector's set on June 13, 2006 by Paramount Pictures. However, the DVD set went out of print once Warner Bros. bought all rights to the Peanuts TV specials. Warner Home Video has since reissued the miniseries on DVD as of June 17, 2014. Due to the nature of the events portrayed and the historical figures included—such as The Wright Brothers and George Washington—many adults were shown in full view along with the Peanuts gang, something that happened rarely in the animated films and specials (Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don't Come Back!!) being another exception) and not at all in the comic strip. These adults were drawn in a style similar to other productions by Bill Melendez. Traditionally, these episodes have not been rerun on television, but one episode, "The Mayflower Voyagers," was paired with A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (with which it was released on DVD) in 2008 by ABC, in order to fill the remaining half-hour once filled by He's a Bully, Charlie Brown. However, the special was edited to make room for Dancing with the Stars. ABC continues to broadcast an abridged version of "The Mayflower Voyagers" on Thanksgiving Day, after A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving; the time slot following the Thanksgiving special is less than 30 minutes, due to the network airing the special with longer commercial breaks than those in the original broadcast. Music The series included music by many composers and performers including Peanuts regular Ed Bogas, Dave Brubeck, David Benoit (who would later take over scoring the specials starting with It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown), George Winston, Wynton Marsalis and Dave Grusin. This continued a tradition of using jazz musicians for the musical score; original composer Vince Guaraldi had died in 1976. This miniseries featured The Winans, Desirée Goyette, and Lou Rawls as the singing vocals (Goyette and Rawls had previously worked with Melendez on the Garfield TV specials). Voice actors and their characters Note: Voice actors sometimes vary in each episode. The exceptions to that are Bill Melendez who voiced Snoopy and Woodstock for all episodes, Curtis Andersen who voiced Schroeder, and Jason Mendelson who voiced Peppermint Patty. Cast Regular voice actors * Erin Chase: Charlie Brown (1st actress to voice Charlie Brown) * Erica Gayle: Lucy van Pelt * Brittany M. Thornton: Sally Brown * Brandon Stewart: Linus van Pelt * Jason Mendelson: Peppermint Patty * Marie Cole: Marcie * Curtis Andersen: Schroeder * Hakeem Abdul-Samad: Franklin * Bill Melendez: Snoopy and Woodstock Occasional voice actors * Jason Riffle: Charlie Brown (in The Birth of The Constitution) * Jeremy Miller: Linus van Pelt (in The Birth of The Constitution) * Ami Foster: Lucy van Pelt (in The Birth of The Constitution) * Christina Lange: Sally Brown (in The Birth of The Constitution) * Keri Houlihan: Marcie (in The Birth of The Constitution) * Tani Taylor Powers: Marcie (in The Mayflower Voyagers and The Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk) * Cameron Clarke: Snoopy (in The Music and Heroes of America) * Sean Mendelson: Frankin * Grant Gelt: Franklin * Pig-Pen, Violet, and other characters appear a few times but are silent. Additional voice actors * Frank Welker - Captain Smith (in The Mayflower Voyagers), Pilgrim Explorer 2 (in The Mayflower Voyagers), Squanto (in The Mayflower Voyagers), George Mason (in The Birth of The Constitution), James Wilson (in The Birth of The Constitution), Governor Morris (in The Birth of The Constitution), Wilbur Wright (in The Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk), Jason Welker (in The NASA Space Station), Alexander Graham Bell (in The Great Inventors), Thomas Edison (in The Great Inventors), Abraham Lincoln (in The Smithsonian and the Presidency), Theodore Roosevelt (in The Smithsonian and the Presidency) * Gregg Berger - Pilgrim Leader (in The Mayflower Voyagers), Myles Standish (in The Mayflower Voyagers), Pilgrim Explorers (in The Mayflower Voyagers), Orville Wright (in The Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk), NASA Mission Control (in The NASA Space Station), Thomas Watson (in The Great Inventors), Samuel (in The Smithsonian and the Presidency) * Chris Collins as Mayflower Watchman (in The Mayflower Voyagers), Samoset (in The Mayflower Voyagers) * Hal Smith as John Muir (in The Smithsonian and the Presidency) * Julie Payne - Mrs. Holiday (in The Great Inventors) * Bud Davis * Chuck Olson * Shep Menken * Brandon Horne * Marie Wise * Alissa King Episodes See also *List of Thanksgiving television specials Notes References External links * Category:1988 American television series debuts Category:1989 American television series endings Category:1980s American animated television series Category:Peanuts media Category:CBS network shows Category:English-language television programming Category:Historical television series